O'Halloran's extreme leap to make a point

THE smile on Paul O'Halloran's face in the picture on page 1 was very forced, the Braddon Greens MHA admits.

Little wonder.

He was perched 140 metres up the wall of the Gordon Dam, about to abseil down it, motivated to make a point about what he believes is the region's great adventure tourism and extreme sports tourism potential.

As he tells it, he was talking 10 to the dozen to try and keep down his nerves.

``I was gripping the rail with my toes,'' he said.

``It's a 140-metre drop and when you start to go down it slopes inward and you can't touch the wall.

``Twenty metres down and I started spinning and I just couldn't stop.''

He made it down, saying it was an awesome experience once he got over the fear factor.

The expedition was run by Hobart-based Aardvark Adventures, which describes the dam as the world's highest commercial abseil.

``Why I did it was to promote the potential and the fact anybody, any age can do it,'' Mr O'Halloran said.

He is working with a group aiming to develop mountain biking activities south of Penguin in the Dial Ranges.

``Not everybody wants to take a death defying leap from a cliff top or ride at full speed through the wilderness on a mountain bike, but there are people all across the world who live for extreme sports,'' Mr O'Halloran said.

``With our landscape and our environment, we have everything it takes to make adventure tourism and extreme sports a boom industry right here in North-West Tasmania.

``My hope is that we can tap into that global market to drive jobs growth in Tasmania, and particularly here in North-West Tasmania.''

He said the group had taken leasehold of an old speedway site and wanted to develop and extend mountain bike activities into the Dial Ranges.

BRAVE SMILE: Perched 140 metres up the wall of the Gordon Dam and about to abseil down it, Paul O'Halloran is enthusiastic about the Coast's potential for extreme sports and adventure tourism.